Last year, an elderly woman I know gave me an old 1946 Willy's jeep. She and her mother, Mildred, bought this jeep in 1952 and it remained on their farm until Mildred passed away last year at the age of 96. It was kept under cover and meticulously maintained all of these years. I spent all of one summer a few years ago helping her daughter, Norma, stack 35 face cords of firewood. I had stopped in to talk with them about maybe keeping some bee hives on their farm and found poor Norma contemplating a solid mountain of firewood. I asked her if someone was helping her and she said "oh, I'll manage somehow...". I decided that she really needed some help and started stopping by every afternoon to move wood. I think she was a bit suspicious at first, I guess not too many people take it on themselves to stack firewood, but over time she started looking for me and we got to be good friends.
One of my fondest memories of Mildred and Norma, is of a time I stopped in to stack wood and found Norma laying under the jeep with an oil can and a grease gun. Mildred stood at the fender leaning on her cane and shouting terse directions regarding the proper lubrication of the jeep's old joints. I believe that Mildred was about 93 and Norma 72 at the time....
Stacking wood with Norma and my friend Elva who came to help a couple of times...
My most treasured antiques though, are 3 toy trucks that were part of a small collection that my mother had. I don't know where they came from because they have always been in my life and I never thought to ask when I had the chance. My mother died of cancer when I was 18 and she just 45. These are some of the only things of hers that I have. We moved around a great deal when I was younger and these trucks have been in more houses than I can remember. These toys say "home" to me more than any house or place, even this house which I built with my own hands...
